WILLCOX, Ariz. (KGUN) — The City of Willcox is taking steps to secure its water supply after an August storm knocked down more than 60 power poles, cutting electricity to all three of the city's wells.
The wells sit 4.5 miles outside city limits, and the outage left the city without a backup water source. They relied on the warter in their storage tanks and conservation efforts during the outage.
"And if something was to ever happen to that line, we don't have a redundant water system. So one of our priorities right now is to identify a new water site," Willcox City Manager Caleb Blaschke said.
The city is now looking at a site about 1.5 miles outside city limits that sits on a separate power grid, which would allow water service to continue if another outage strikes the current line.
"Pros of having an additional water well located near the city of Wilcox is it would be in a separate area where, if something happened out there, SSVC could still provide us energy in town," Blaschke said.
"That's again just trying to create redundancy, not only with providing water, but with electric," Blaschke said.
The city is using grant money to fund testing and designs for the new well. It also uses Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona grants to pay for repairs to the existing wells.
The new well is not expected to be completed for another couple of years. In the meantime, the city is making changes to reduce water consumption, including installing smart irrigation systems.
"There's a lot of behind-the-scenes things that are happening. They're not always the most exciting things, but for us, it's the underlying infrastructure that we're trying to go through and repair," Blaschke said.
The city is also exploring building satellite water refill stations in surrounding areas to help residents whose private wells have dried up.
"Want them to feel part of our community, and we want to make sure that they're taken care of as well, because they're important part of our community," Blaschke said.
"Doing as much as we possibly can do, and going as fast as we can go, and and and fulfilling those projects," Blaschke said.
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Alexis Ramanjulu is a reporter in Cochise County for KGUN 9. She began her journalism career reporting for the Herald/Review in Sierra Vista, which she also calls home. Share your story ideas with Alexis by emailing alexis.ramanjulu@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook.
